Background

She was the Heartland Institute's vice-president for policy and strategy from 2006 until December 2008 and acted as Heartland’s Washington DC media spokesman and liaison to Heartland's Legislative Advisors (elected officials), donors, and allies. [2]

She is the former Director of the Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Task Force, ALEC Member, Virginia Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Bourne authored the 2004 ALEC publication “'Sons-of-Kyoto' Legislation: Greenhouse Gas Regulation in the States,” where she argued that the Kyoto Protocol and the movement behind it threatened to ruin the free market system and turn the global economy over to a “carbon cartel.”

Stance on Climate Change

“Regardless of the scientific uncertainty and the economic costs, there is an orchestrated movement to force the federal government and the American public to implement Kyoto-like registration and develop a cap and trade carbon emission system. Ultimately, this system will create a national energy tax in the short term and has implications that may harm free trade in the future. The legacy that we may hand over to future generations is not one of individual choices in a free market system, but one of lost opportunities in a global market controlled by a carbon cartel.” [4]

Key Quotes

“This is poor methodology and a dangerous precedent to use to protect public health in that it directs resources to potential threats and outliers in data as opposed to current environmental threats that are having a significant detrimental effect upon human health. There is no direct evidence that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have had a significant impact in respiratory diseases or cardiovascular diseases.” [5]

Key Deeds

April, 2008

In 2008 Bourne announced[4] that the implementation of climate legislation would burden the Southern States and lead to “another Civil War here in a short period of time, because the cost is going to go up.” [6]

March, 2008

Bourne was a speaker[5] at the Heartland Institute's First International Conference on Climate Change.[7]

March, 2004

Bourne was a speaker at a NCPA Briefing on Global Warming titled “What Do We Really Know vs. What We Are Told.” Other speakers included prominent climate change deniers David Legates[6], Myron Ebell[7], and Patrick Michaels[8]. [8]